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Friday, December 17, 2010

It's no lie that with Christmas looming around the corner, most people start baking and cooking, and preparing for the holidays! Our kitchen, is no different. However, we're different in the fact that we've made pretty much nothing Christmas related... XD (Yet! wait for next week... >3>) But i figured i would catch you all up on a few wonderful things we've been up to.

First off, for those of you who haven't checked out "Cakewrecks" you need to! This blog/site has kept me awake for the past three weeks while i browse the archives and giggle/facepalm my way through some of THE WORST decorated cakes in history.

Heck, i even submitted one myself this time:

Yep. I think it's supposed to be half-a-Santa. (The evil half-brother to Santa... *da dun CHI*) made of course, out of cupcakes. (or as Cakewrecks so-lovingly named them, "CCC"'s or "CupCake Cakes" ick...) Anyways, i found him (or whatever's left of him?) at my own local Walmart whilst perusing the wonderbread.

Don't get me wrong though, Cakewrecks posts some pretty wicked stuff on there too! You guys know me and my love for food and pretty things... Well, they have a "Sunday Sweets" blog post (every Sunday... dur...) where they showcase some UH-MAZE-ING cakes that are anything but wrecks! In fact, one has me absolutely swooning at the sight!

Isn't it gorgeous??? It's from the outstanding cake-baker from "The Secret of Our Dinner" (a Bulgarian cake/food blog with a unique twist on almost all the cakes). I love the pearlescent sheen to it, as well as the drippy snowy icing, the delicate teeny snowflakes, and of course the oh-so-adorable fondant deer on top :-D too cute! but that's not the real reason i'm drooling over this cutey...

Check this out:

Do not adjust your screen. Blink if you have to...

Are you seeing it?

Yes! That's right! those layers are going the wrong way! They're friggin' vertical!!!! How amazing is that!? :-D It has a perfect icing-to-cake ratio, and it looks absolutely stunning! (not to mention unique as heck!). Wondering how on earth they did it? Well, (if you can decipher the google translation...) they made a tutorial (it's about halfway down the page, but they explain how to do basic fondant flowers, fondant, and all kinds of their amazing techniques!) <3

Can you believe this cake is basically a giant jellyroll?? And just look how easy it seems o.o!!! (no doubt when i go to try it though, it'll be too dry, and everything will crumble and fall apart... haha. but hey, i can try!).

Jim and I are thinking about trying it for the wedding cake maybe! (So of course i'm going to post all of our failed/successful attempts up here XD)

But as for things WE have baked, i give you the following:

This one is entirely Jim's creation... living in the boondocks of Indiana, we've come across "Indiana-only" foods of course, but this one was a first o.O "Indiana Sugar Cream Pie". Think about that name for a minute, and tell me you don't picture a granulated sandy textured pie... like condensed milk with sugar added to it o.O... but he made this following some youtube tutorial with a 100-year-old woman, and it turned out divine. it's a creamy smooth sweet concoction that actually surprised me.

This one, was also Jim's idea, but i made the crust XD -- it's an entirely Strawberry pie :-D (no Rhubarb...) and it was amazin'. Slap on a dollop of whipped cream, and we're i business! <3

These are "butterscotch white chocolate chip cookies from "Not So Humble Pie"-'s recipe :-D They were crunchier than expected, but they were still tasty! (in hindsight i probably should have stuck them in an airtight container with a slice of bread.... but that's besides the point.)

Of course with Christmas drawing ever closer, i've started getting our annual christmas cards from family and friends, and even a few early christmas presents :-D (woot, stuff!). My parents have already let me have a sneak at mine and my brother's matching laptops (Dell with Windows XP -- able to play all those games i missed, while still having the ability to be fully upgradeable cheaply! woohoo!) and then of course, Jim snuck me in something he just couldn't keep hidden until the 25th......

Hamsters! :-D (sorry about the blurry bleh pictures... it was late, and my bedroom has a lack of overhead light... so all i have is a floorlamp that hates me with every fibre of it's being... so i had to use flash and it sucked.

They're two month old black and white panda hamsters (me rub you rong time?) and are practically identical twins!!! (they came from the same litter too :-3) Seriously, if it weren't for the teeeeeeeeeny tiny details, i wouldn't be able to tell these two hammies apart! Luckily, Taffeta (the one in the ball) has white on her chin and leg, is hyper and outgoing and would probably have an anurism if i had to take the wheel out of the cage, and Purl (like Purl-stitch?) on the right by Jim, has a bite taken out of her ear (which we didn't notice until two nights ago T.T poor baby!) and is fully black on her chin and stomach. She's quiet and reserved, shy, and loves to cuddle -- so much calmer than her sister. But they're my new babies :-D Now i just have to find them a metal wheel to replace the plastic thing in their cage, because it's noisy as hell and keeps us awake at night. boo.

Unfortunately, i have yet to snap a picture of Declan's finished green hoodie (all it needs is edging and buttons, but we just got the buttons yesterday, and i have yet to decide if i want GIANT multi-colored buttons of awesomeness and cute, or white pearly buttons that remind me of a pretty cardigan... but yeah :-D as soon as i get the buttons on, i'll take a picture and slap it up on here. <3

Well, i've decided this year (since i've discovered how to crochet >:-D) to make stockings for everybody! Dad's is a malgamation of two stockings, but is basically a woman's leg with a black-and-red garter at the top that moves into a fishnet'd leg, ending in a bright red heel. The pattern is my own, so if everything works out right, i'll post it up here and on Ravelry :-3

In the meantime, i've just-about finished Jim's stocking (a redshirt star-trek stocking knitted in the round <3). All it needs is the grey cuff, and the gold com sign. My younger brother Chance -- like me-- is a total WoW junkie. (For the Horde!!) so he's been begging me to make him a "For The Horde" scarf (with double Horde symbols on each end) since the chill of winter first danced through the air -- so naturally he asked for a stocking of true anti-alliance fashion:

The chart i'm using is my own, and scaled down from the scarf version (done in tunisian), but this is simply a single crochet worked in the round. The cuff is alternating SC and HDC. (and i have SOOOO MANY ENDS to weave in!! D: >) It's got about 10 more rows, and then i get to start the heel. (yay... >.>) But at least it's pretty. ;-)

My and my mum's stocking will be done in Granny-hex's in alternating colors i have yet to decide on. (though i'll probably try and use up some of my self-striping stuff.)

And speaking of WoW, i've been screwing around in Photoshop for a while, learning how to use some of the basic stuff, and started forming a reference photo for my character Illondra for a (hopefully!) upcoming comic.

Here's the WIP of you're interested :-D

I've since added a glove to the hand on the left, but other than that, she hasn't gotten too much further. But for my first time in photoshop, i think i've done pretty damn well! (and for using a mouse nonetheless! no fancy schmancy tablets here! (although i'm dying to get one T.T .... just sayin'... lol) you can visit my [deviantart] account if you want to see more updates on her. <3

Well, i hope you're all having a wonderful Holiday Season! :-D Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, and a Happy Holidays to the rest of my wonderful readers and their respective celebrations. <3